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The CDC has about 62 confirmed cases in 22 states of a rare polio-like disease called flaccid acute myelitis or AFM. Natasha Abellard of Veuer has history.
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Spencer, 6, was hospitalized at the end of September after quickly developing symptoms, including hands that pulled and lost the use of his legs. He was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, a rare virus that the CDC warned this week.(Photo: Submitted by Serena Hill)

A month ago, Serena Hill's 6-year-old son was restless, running and playing outside.

But in late September, a few weeks after having what appeared to be a cold, Hill said, Spencer woke up complaining that his hands and feet were "not feeling well". In a few days, he could no longer use his arms or legs.

A pediatric neurologist who saw the boy from Chattanooga at the emergency room of the TC Thompson Children's Hospital in Erlanger knew immediately what it could be, Hill said: acute flaccid myelitis, a rare but serious affection affecting the nervous system in the same way as poliomyelitis.

Polio type symptoms

Symptoms include sagging face or eyelids; difficulty moving limbs or eyes speech disorders; and, in severe cases, difficulty swallowing or even breathing due to muscle weakness.

This year alone, the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 62 cases of FMD in 22 states, 90 percent of them children. The CDC has published this week an update on the growing number of MFA cases it has been following since 2014, when it hit several children in Colorado. So far this year, the CDC has reported receiving 127 reports of possible cases of MFA. In total, 386 cases have been confirmed in the United States since 2014.

Spencer is not among them – not yet. Bill Christian, spokesman for the state's Department of Health, said that Tennessee had not had a confirmed case of MFA until now this year or in 2017, though 39, there were two in 2016.

This does not mean, however, that Spencer and the others do not have an AFM. The condition is yet to be reported in Tennessee, which means that health care providers are not required to inform the CDC that they may have a case.

Diagnosis, cause

And the diagnostic process is not accurate. There is no specific test for the AFM, because even though CDC investigators think it's caused by a virus, like polio does, they do not know about the virus yet – except that it's not no polio, each sample tested and no positive test. polio. Thus, patients can be diagnosed and treated for other conditions before AFM is considered.

This makes the CDC's research maddening for the AFM, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the agency's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

"I am frustrated that, despite all our efforts, we have not been able to identify the cause of this mysterious disease," said Messonnier at a teleconference held Thursday. "Despite extensive laboratory testing, we have not determined which pathogen or immune response caused the weakness or paralysis of the arm or leg in most patients." We do not know who can run a higher risk of developing the AFM nor the reasons that are more at risk.We do not fully understand the long-term consequences of MFA. "

Messonnier said some patients are recovering quickly while others continue to be paralyzed and need ongoing care. Some patients need a ventilator to breathe. Last year, at least one child with MFA died.

AFM can be caused by other viruses, such as West Nile virus and enterovirus, or by environmental toxins, or by a state in which the immune system takes healthy tissue for foreign matter and destroys it.

But "although we know this can cause the AFM, we have not been able to find a cause for the majority of these cases," Minister Messionner said. Despite having recourse to a group of external experts two years ago and in exhaustive search of any possible cause, the CDC was not able to find a virus, an environmental factor or any other agent able to bind all these cases. Nor are they all present in geographical groups.

According to the minister, the CDC recently received "additional information regarding patients suspected of having symptomatic AFMs in August and September", and the national agency is working more with state health services. and local departments to confirm these cases more quickly.

Hill attributes to the quick diagnosis of his son, who immediately started a series of high-dose steroids at the hospital, the fact that he was again able to move his arms and legs in three days.

Spencer's progress

Spencer is still hospitalized for hospital therapy but has "significantly improved," Hill said. "He is walking now, he is standing, he can hold his wrist, his hands in the air."

She expects that it will be released from the hospital in a few days, but she states that it will require ambulatory therapy for an indefinite period, as it still has problems with it. 39, balance while standing and walking and that he has fine motor skills to the fingers – he can not yet close his pants, for example.

"I take it one day at a time," said Hill, who said the law firm she was working in had "supported" her need to take care of her son, and that Spencer was "a champion" ".

"He's not once questioned: why does this happen, why can not I move my legs, why can not I walk?", She said. "He sort of took it as he came."

It's harder for her, even if she adopts a positive attitude: "You do not want to sit there and cry in front of your son."

The increase in the number of AFM cases has given rise to online Facebook pages and support groups, which Hill found useful and difficult to read because not all children have recovered as well as Spencer .

Signs of the disease

Parents whose children suffer from weakness or loss of muscle tone in their arms and legs should immediately see a doctor, said Messonnier. Hill said that Spencer's first remarks were that his legs were "shaking" and that his hands were not "good", but "some children never complain, so parents should be at the same time." look for signs such as sagging of the face.

Messonnier said that although the AFM is on the rise and that the CDC is starting to report the weekly number of cases, it is still an "incredibly rare" disease affecting less than 15,000 people. one in a million. And the CDC continues to search for the cause every day, she said.

"As a parent myself, I understand what it's like to be afraid for your child," she said. "Parents need to know that AFM is very rare, even with the increase in the number of cases that we are currently seeing. (…) Although I am concerned about the increase in the number of cases, I want the people know that this work is at the heart of CDC's mission: to protect America against health threats. "

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